[Power to Weight]

Here's one for the old timers and the brainiacs as well. I inherited this aircraft at our local field and no one could tell me anything about it except that it was old (maybe mid 80s) and that it had never flown. It was wrought with construction flaws and a very tough model to put into a flyable condition. After many tedious hours it is very close to it's maiden voyage. My question now is, can anyone name this make and model of aircraft? More importantly, where do I find the CG point on its swept wing leading edge in which to balance it. Generally one can pick a plane up by its main spar and kind of “wing it” from there but as I say, that swept wing has really got me stumped. I don’t want to take all the decades of preparation that it took to get it to this point only to flub it up on something simple like improper balance. Also, should it be balanced upright or inverted? Any thoughts, suggestions or words of wisdom?

[gkm41]

well, a real easy way to calculate the aprox CG on a tapered wing is go out from the fuse on one wing panel to the half way mark. measure the wing chord at that point. calculate the 25 to 30% area and do the same on the other wing, put a straight edge across the 2 sides and that is your starting point. test flying will determine the more precise point. hope that helps

[astrofler]

Here's a site with a good explanation and diagrams of how to find the cg of any wing.

http://www.rcmplans.com/issues/reque...-061975-1.html

[Mlang1321]

ye thats a great site to go to and its very informative. I was looking at your stand you have the plane on, did you make it or buy it. can you take pictures of it if you made it yourself. I have been looking for a durable stand that I can build myself and will hold larger scale planes

[Power to Weight]

Thanks for the link astrofler, it was very helpful.
As for the stand, it was home built out of necessity do to the small suv that i drive. After playing with a couple of weak foam attempts and witnessing what others had done, i finally came up with this. It is made of 1/2 in. PVC water pipe with a variety of t's and elbows fitted in place. They can be found for a reasonably good price at a plumbing wholesaler. Foam water pipe insulation is wrapped around for padding. I made a smaller jig for my electrics. As you can see it holds a lot in a small space and prevents damage in transport. It works great and doubles as a work platform both at home and on the field.
I found something on the web that may interest you its called standbox. Looks like a good commercial solution to the problem.
http://www.standbox.eu/about-standbox

Always Fly’n
Curt.